How To Care For Your Locks In Those Freezing Temps

How To Care For Your Locks In Those Freezing Temps

Michael Dueñas, founder & CEO of Hair Room Service, boasts a long list of celebrity clientele that includes Lady Gaga, Connie Britton, and Shailene Woodley. Now, the top NYC tress expert (+ R29 fave!) is serving up his haircare know-how on the regular. Trust: Dueñas is about to bring some serious strand inspo your way.

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Every place you walk into has the heat blaring — including your home. It’s just like having a blowdryer on your hair 24/7 — of course it’s going to feel dry and frizzy. Luckily, there's a few things you can do — other than soak your strands in a deep conditioner every week — to keep your mane from looking lifeless.

One thing that's often overlooked? Taking care of your hair after you style it — it's just as important coating your hair in heat protectant before you take a blowdryer to it. After you've styled your hair, that heat protector you applied is has evaporated. But, instead of letting dry heat zap your strands of any moisture that may have been left after blowdrying, apply the heat protectant again very lightly — and all over, evenly — once you're done styling your hair. Then, with a touch of hairspray, seal it in.

From the combination of dry hair and pulling hair up or back into a tight elastic to keep it out of the way, breakage is inevitable. It’s all about adjusting your style. If you're not living in a beanie this winter and instead rely on pulling your hair back, be sure to focus on the technique. When securing your hair into a high tight bun, use larger elastics in your hair, since small elastics restrict your hair more and can act as a cutting blade, making their way through your precious strands of hair. A wider surface area is less likely to break your strands, as it has more mass to spread out and distribute the pressure among the fragile hair it's securing. One of my favorite is Maddyloo — they have a plethora of options for your hair and style. But, if you're looking for more traditional ties, check out Goody.
Of course, you don’t always have to secure your hair with an elastic when pulling it up into a bun. Experiment with different types of braids. Dirty hair works best for this, but pull your hair back and begin to braid it where you would normally secure with an elastic. You can either braid all the way to your ends, or partially down to your mid lengths. Then, proceed to wrap your hair into a bun as normal. This will reduce the amount of breakage that occurs from traditional elastics. This technique also works with ponytails: Simply bring all your hair back to where you would normally, secure with an elastic, and braid tightly about half an inch to an inch at the base of the ponytail. Remove a small section of hair from the ponytail and wrap it around the base where it is braided. Secure with a bobby pin. This will hold the braid in place as well as cover the braid, giving the appearance of a normal ponytail.

With these slight changes in your routine, dry, winter-induced frizz will be a distant memory!